House GOP releases biting report on FBI’s handling of 2017 congressional baseball shooting

House Republicans released a scathing report scrutinizing the FBI’s investigation and initial conclusion related to the 2017 congressional baseball shooting targeting GOP lawmakers.

The House Intelligence Committee, led by Chairman Rick Crawford of Arkansas, released a majority staff report assessing the FBI’s analytic integrity and investigative standards of the June 14, 2017, shooting at an Alexandria, Virginia, baseball field.

The Washington Times reached out to the FBI for comment. 

The 3,000-page report came from an FBI case file provided by Director Kash Patel for committee review and lays out the panel’s conclusion that, under then-acting Director Andrew McCabe in 2017, “the FBI used false statements, manipulation of known facts, and biased and butchered analysis to support a narrative that shooter James Hodgkinson committed suicide by cop without any nexus to domestic terrorism.”

The gunman shot then-House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, Louisiana Republican, who nearly died.

A 10-minute shootout happened between Hodgkinson and officers from the Capitol and Alexandria Police before officers fatally shot Hodgkinson.

According to the report, the FBI investigation at the time failed to substantively interview the shooting victims and other eyewitnesses, and the bureau failed to investigate and develop a comprehensive timeline of events.

Additionally, the report describes how the FBI case file was improperly classified, which may have assisted FBI in obfuscating substandard investigative efforts and analysis.

The committee criticizes Mr. McCabe’s FBI investigation, saying the report “made clear” the agency had “predetermined” Hodgkinson’s motives were “suicide by cop,” as opposed to a “premeditated assassination attempt on Republican congressmen by a radical, left-wing political extremist.”

The committee notes that the FBI, in its press release, withheld information from the public that would have undermined its “suicide by cop” narrative.

This includes that no uniformed police were present when the shooting occurred and that the FBI had handwritten notes detailing Hodgkinson’s political thoughts and motivations.

Also, the FBI had 15 photos taken by Hodgkinson two months prior when he was casing the baseball practice field. 

“The FBI’s cherry-picking on what to disclose or not to disclose to substantiate a conclusion demonstrates politicization and lack of objectivity that the committee has observed in other [intelligence community] analytic products for high-profile cases,” the committee said.

The FBI, with no new information, changed its conclusion from “suicide by cop” to domestic violent extremism in 2021.

“First, I want to express my deepest appreciation to Director Patel for pulling back the curtain and providing the committee with the documents we have been requesting for years,” said Rep. Crawford.

“I also want to thank the members of Congress who have for years fought to get the facts of this case. There is no reasonable or acceptable explanation for why the FBI stonewalled the committee for so long. 

“Unfortunately, this report confirms that under previous FBI leadership, the bureau completely botched the investigation into this politically motivated attack which threatened the lives of numerous Republican members of Congress, staff and bystanders.”

Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Ronny Jackson of Texas thanked President Trump and Mr. Patel “for putting an end to the FBI’s obstruction of congressional oversight on this issue.” 

The congressman added, “We will continue to hold the intelligence community accountable and ensure intelligence assessments are objective and free from political bias. I look forward to Director Patel uncovering how political bias found its way into this high-profile case.”